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Saturday, 20 May 2017

My Design for Spoonflower's 'Whimsical Watercolour Insects' Challenge

This week's Spoonflower challenge theme is 'Whimsical Watercolour Insects'. I remembered that I had drawn some pen and watercolour beetles in my sketchbook a while ago so decided it was a good opportunity to return to that theme and create a finished design! Also, I'm not that keen on real creepy crawlies but I thought beetles would be something I could make into a fun and colourful pattern.

I started with some research, looking at real beetles for ideas of their shapes and markings and took these as inspiration for drawing my own beetles. Some you will recognise like the ladybirds and others are just fantasy - it was fun to play around with the watercolours! I filled this page in my sketchbook with ideas.
I then chose some of my favourite shapes and colours to draw on a fresh sheet of paper, ready to scan. I also made some watercolour splashes and shapes to use as a textured background to the design. The final step was to rearrange all the elements to make a repeat pattern...

I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out and am looking forward to seeing how it prints on fabric! The design isn't available to buy on Spoonflower yet, but will be as soon as I've sent for a test swatch (or sooner if I am lucky enough to make it into the top 25 in the contest!)

As usual there are lots of stunning entries to the challenge and with the theme of insects being quite open it's great to see a variety of design from beetles and bees to butterflies and more!

*UPDATE*
The winners of the contest have been announced - you can see them here. My design was placed 29th (with 159 votes - joint with no.s 28 and 30) - so close to making it into the top ten, but not quite there! I'm still really happy with the result though, thank you so much if you voted for it! :)
I will be sending for a test swatch soon and give you an update with the design is available for sale.

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Hello! I'm Hazel. I am an illustrator, designer and maker - I love to be creative! Here on my blog I share my designs, the things that inspire me and crafty DIY projects for you to try! You can read more about me here.

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